Over 68,400 disabled people in India do not have a roof over their
head while majority of them are found in urban areas, latest Census
figures reveal.
The figure might be a fraction of the 2.68 crore disabled persons in
the country, but activists say it could still be alarming as a sizable
chunk of women and children among the homeless are left exposed to
abuse. Disabled women alone account for 24,211 among the homeless.
They also warn that the figures could yet be incomplete since many may
have been missed out during the Census survey. Activists would like to
see the actions authorities would take, having identified the homeless
persons.
The official figures released on Tuesday also showed 43,509 or 68 per
cent homeless disabled persons lived in urban areas, 13, 637 of them
being women.
Many disabled homeless persons in urban areas live on pavements, large
pipes and below bridges, often falling through social schemes and
institutional help.
UP tops chart
Figures revealed Uttar Pradesh tops the chart for the homeless
disabled with 12,876 persons, 4,452 of whom are women. Maharashtra
(9,103), Andhra Pradesh (7,407) and West Bengal (6,503) also featured
in the list.
Karnataka has 2,486 homeless disabled out of which 935 are women,
while the national capital Delhi has 1,595 out of 2.34 lakh disabled
population in the list of homeless.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/486953/census-shows-68k-disabled-people.html
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Avinash Shahi
Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU